Growing season

I was asked about our growing season here, and I'm happy to report that it is basically year-round since Guatemala is in the tropics!  I have grown flowers throughout my life in the different places we have lived, and I have gotten back into flower gardening this past year.

We don't have four seasons, but we do have a rainy season and a dry season.  This means the plants almost drown in the daily rain showers for half of the year, then face a drought the other half!  During the rainy season, I am learning which plants can't take that much water: for example, geraniums, which I replanted into pots and placed under roofs where they get the sun part of the day, but I can regulate their water.  During the dry season, I spend time watering everything once a week, including the St. Augustine grass, which is a thick vine.  

We had many rocks remaining from our builder's over-estimated purchase for using in our retaining walls, so I've been placing them around our yard to make garden areas around the grass.  I've recently planted different colors of hibiscus, hydrangeas, rose of Sharon, poinsettias, bouganvillea, and tropical azaleas, all of which bloom year-round here.  I've also tried planting spider plants outside, as well as mother-in-law tongues, which are doing well.  I'm enjoying it!

Plants at our local nursery are cheap, but they don't always live long, so I have to baby them and hope for the best!  I'm always fighting insects and fungus, but we recently found some products in town to treat them.  I even accidentally brought home some snails on my last purchase of plants!  Here are some pictures I took in our yard recently.

If you zoom in, you can see the hummingbird.

Geraniums hiding from the rain

Hibiscus on a young bush.  I have planted
7 varieties/colors and am waiting
to see how they do.

Rock garden on steep hillside

Training bougainvillea to grow up an old
swing set as an arch
(Our dog Lucy is in her favorite spot on the
bridge over our sand filter for kitchen sink
and shower drainage water.)

Another bougainvillea arch made of PVC pipes
(The small building houses our water pump
for drawing water out of the cistern
which is under the arch.)

Experimenting with color

Between carport and house

This anthurium was small when it was
first gifted to me by our builder,
and now it's several feet tall.

Discovering that some bougainvillea
prefer to be bushes instead of
climbers

Easter bread

In Chichicastenango, Semana Santa (Holy Week) is a very big deal.  Throughout the week, they close and decorate roads with "rugs" made of flower petals, and there are many processions carrying statues of saints through town at various times.  We mostly try to stay home that week, since getting anywhere in town is so complicated!  There is also a tradition here of all the bakeries making "Easter bread," which are large sweet rolls to be eaten with honey.  Our neighbors from the house you can see behind us in the video, William and Mercedes (probably in their upper 20s), brought us a gift of this bread!  It was indeed delicious!

Our dog Lucy followed me around,
smelling the sweet bread!

They are the size of my hand!

Thank you

To all of you who have supported us, both financially and in prayer, we say THANK YOU!!!

Another detour

Our neighborhood road is currently blocked due to the installation of paving bricks on a 60-meter stretch of road.  At that rate they will have to block it repeatedly about six times before arriving at our driveway!  They only do road improvements once a year when the municipality gives them money, so we are hoping they will do more at a time when they re-block the road in the future.  

Here is a map of our current "back way" detour in yellow.  It takes about 15 extra minutes of slow driving to navigate with some tricky maneuvering to pass oncoming vehicles.  It is mostly a single-car-width dirt road with various cornfields, steep dropoffs, and concrete walls lining the edges.  The blue line shows our normal drive out of our neighborhood, which is the part currently blocked.  

December in Chichi

When we moved here 14 years ago, we thought the December festivities in our town were in celebration of Christmas.  However, over the years we finally figured out that they were actually in celebration of the town's patron saint, Saint Thomas.  In fact, there is so much traffic and hullabaloo in Chichi during the entire month of December, with main roads closing unexpectedly and twice the normal number of people in town, that we try to stay home as much as possible. 

Here is a video posted by a local tourist hotel in early December showing a sampling of what goes on.  

Translation:  Did you know that the Fair of Chichicastenango in honor of Apostle Saint Thomas is about to begin?  From December 4th to 22nd, its streets fill with color, with music, and with tradition.  Different celebrations and ancestral dances are in honor of its patron Saint Thomas.  The carnival rides, food, parties, and all of the magic make this fair one of the most special celebrations of Guatemala.  We invite you to live it with us, to feel its energy, and to enjoy an unforgettable December in Chichicastenango.  In Santo Tomás Hotel, it will be a pleasure to receive and accompany you during these festivities.